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Beach bugs

If you go to the beach in the US, especially New York, stay away from
the water. That’s the message of a new study from the Natural Resources
Defense Council, a private environmental pressure group in the US.

The NRDC found that even if beaches met the Environmental Protection
Agency’s recommended water quality standard, 19 out of every 1000 swimmers
would still get gastroenteritis.

Most beach authorities reject the EPA’s method for measuring water quality.
But even using their own tests, authorities in 10 states decided to close
their beaches or post warnings at least 2400 times during 1989 and 1990.
New York had the most lax standards, but still shut down its beaches most
often.

The chief culprit, says the NRDC, is untreated sewage discharging into
the sea.